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Victory lifts French spirits
http://www.sina.com.cn 2004/06/23 11:03  Shanghai Daily

  The mood in the French camp had been dampened by internal disputes. Now the talk is upbeat as the defending champion eased into a quarterfinal showdown with Greece.

  France's topsy-turvy tournament has been a tale of narrow escapes, defensive blunders, lackluster performances, tactical shortcomings and players expressing frustration.

  But now things seem to have taken a turn for the better. "Tonight we'll meet our wives. It's good that we won because they'd be the first to criticize us," coach Jacques Santini said.

  Thierry Henry struck two late goals on Monday and Zinedine Zidane claimed his third of the tournament as France reached the final eight with a 3-1 win over a battling Switzerland side.

  "Everything will start falling into place," striker David Trezeguet assured.

  "I'm happy. We have achieved our objective, which was to finish first," added Zidane.

  However, the French were largely unconvincing against a Swiss side which, with a little more self-belief, could have achieved a stunning upset.

  "We need to take a step back," said Santini. "Things will be clearer tomorrow. Let's enjoy the qualification first."

  Tenacity, rather than skill, has been France's hallmark so far at Euro 2004.

  Les Bleus topped Group B with seven points, but shaky performances against England and Croatia were masked by a fighting spirit which turned potential defeats into salvage jobs.

  Zidane scored twice in injury time to beat the English 2-1, while Trezeguet notched the equalizer in a 2-2 draw against a Croat side which blew a last-minute chance to win.

  Hardly convincing performances from the pre-tournament favorite.

  Key players such as Bixente Lizarazu and Robert Pires seemed to think so. They criticized the team formation.

  Santini, a proud man, defended himself, saying players who speak out "put extra pressure on themselves" and "consider their own interests before those of the group."

  Both Pires and Lizarazu started against the Swiss, and Arsenal's Pires was particularly impressive, hinting Santini had taken some of his comments on board by returning him to his favored left-midfield position.

  Lizarazu, too, attacked well, marauding down the left flank in his 96th appearance for Les Bleus.

  However, the French defense struggled, allowing 18-year-old Johann Vonlanthen to equalize and become the youngest scorer in European championship history, beating the previous mark set by England's Wayne Rooney at the same stadium a few days earlier.

  His goal in the 26th minute canceled out Zidane's deft 20th-minute header from Pires' corner.

  Meanwhile, the strikers were wasteful.

  "We need to improve our efficiency in front of goal," said Santini. "We had four or five chances. If we had taken these, the team would have been more serene."

  Prior to his two goals, Henry looked sluggish and placed a free header over the crossbar midway through the first half. Trezeguet was anonymous, failing to intercept a poor back pass which he normally would have converted into a goal-scoring opportunity.

  The pair are not clicking, a fact underlined by the introduction of substitute Louis Saha.

  France will enter as a heavy favorite against Greece when the teams meet on Friday. "Some people will think it's going to be easy," said Henry. "It won't be."

  So far, nothing has been for France.

  (The Associated Press)




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